The Mirror City

twenty-two

back to metrocity, we go

My eyes were all heavy when the light from an unknown source decided to blind me. I was laying on a bed like the ones in the infirmary below. Cleo is doing her magic when I came to, doing her best to at least what I think is repairing my broken arm. She noticed I was awake and therefore greeted me with, “How are you feeling?"

“Terrible." I replied, while I used my right arm to shield my eyes from the brightness of the light. “Although, I'm still alive."

“You are..." She heaved a sigh.

“You okay?"

She raised her head while taking a deep breath, wiping of what I think are tears from her cheeks, cleaning them excessively as if she doesn't want me to see it but it's too late. She leaned backwards on my bed, probably thinking about a lot of things just now.

“I want you to sit." She told me.

I followed her orders and she helped me do it, along with a thousand volts of pain surging through my veins and all around my body, the occassional groaning was there with a clear indication that I needed to sleep for a whole month. She then proceeds to put a strap of clothing around the right side of my neck that connects and holds the largest part of the clothing for my left broken arm to rest.

“This would be good for a while, your father might be a scientist but he's not planning on curing some injuries so I have to improvise." She said.

I looked at her with a smile. “Thank you, Cleo. I appreciate it a lot."

She then looked at me hard, with what's supposed to be another crying from her eyes. She held it back the last minute. “Just stay safe. Permanently, I mean. Stop being reckless, Troy."

I already knew what she's getting at but up to this point, no amount of energy is even present inside my body so I just nodded not to argue anymore. Cleo means well and she knows I know it. She's probably scared for me when Mason decided to break my arm for the better. I could only imagine the horror that Cleo went through that time. Not to mention, how Roto made Mason came back to life.

Father must've heard me speak and was surprisingly loud for the first time. Being filled with tears and joy about how he almost lost his son for the second time. Cleo gave us some space and decided to leave and tend Willow who just came out of the tube that we put her in. All better and alive like never before, the gas did wonders and all it did was revived her and made her look like normal.

I tried being attentive to what my father were trying to say, but all I managed to receive were a bunch of gibberish. My head is still not in total control of my consciousness, and I felt like I could drift into sleep at any time. Although father managed to caught my attention when he mentioned about a journal that Mason wrote about his whole time here at the Fifth. He was surprised that Willow and her mother are the first documented Growlers. First to be ever tested with the gas.

“His madness about the plant resulted in his humanity decreasing by the very thin line." Valentine commented as he reads the passage from Mason's journal.

He continued and the list goes on and on. All the atrocities, the deceit, the madness, the inhumane acts, all that everything the Fifth has to offer. It doesn't even result in the fact that he's still acting it all out of the Office's orders. A frequent word or group that I'm constantly being reminded of by my father and Mason all this time. When I asked father about it, all he says is this...